About Frances Elizabeth Burnett

Frances Elizabeth "Fanny" Dickens was the oldest sister of novelist Charles Dickens with whom he was very close in childhood. She was a talented woman and studied music at the Royal Academy of Music. Fanny married Henry Burnett and had a crippled son, Henry Jr, whom Dickens used as a model for both Paul Dombey and Tiny Tim. Fanny died of consumption at age 38.